The NL Cy Young Award Showdown
In just a few short days, the National League Cy Young winner will have been selected. The race could really go either way, and no one’s quite sure as to who will win it in the end.
There were some exceptional pitching performances in the National League in 2009. It can be argued that at least 4 or 5 pitchers would have won it hands down in seasons past had they had these seasons then. Some of the best pitchers this past season included the likes of Adam Wainwright, Jair Jurrjens, Clayton Kershaw, and Matt Cain. Not to mention many others.
At the end of the day though, the best pitching was hands down performed by Tim Lincecum, the young hurler with the San Francisco Giants, and Chris Carpenter, the veteran ace pitcher in St. Louis who came back from a two year hiatus that saw him sidelined with injury.
However, there’s a lot more to what both of these aces accomplished than just some incredible stats. Sometimes, intangible factors like these may factor into determining who’s more worthy of an award. That may very well have to be the case this year.
As far as Lincecum is concerned, he was magnificent in 2009. A 15-7 record, a 2.48 ERA, and 261 strikeouts (best in the league) in 225.1 innings pitched were all phenomenal. He was largely responsible for San Francisco’s first winning season in years.
Chris Carpenter, on the other hand, is more likely to see a movie made out of his story. After missing two consecutive seasons with an injury that threatened his career, he somehow managed to pull it together with the best season of his career. No one in baseball expected anything this drastic out of Carpenter, who led the NL in earned run average.
At the end of the day, this race could truly go either way. Carpenter had the better ERA and WHIP, but Lincecum’s strikeouts were insane. Carpenter does have the better story to tell, so my prediction would be that he wins.
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